Lawsuit Accuses RAM Makers Of Price Fixing

A new class action lawsuit launched in California has alleged that the three largest RAM manufacturers in the world – Samsung, SK Hynix and Micron – are involved in price-fixing and intentionally limiting supply to maintain high prices.

According to Law360 (via Kotaku and Eurogamer), the plaintiffs claim that the trio are basically a cartel collaborating to inflate DRAM and chip prices by controlling the overwhelming majority of the market (around 90% of the world’s supply).

Both Samsung and SK Hynix have been previously indicted for DRAM price-fixing and “bid-rigging”.

The current memory shortage crisis, dubbed RAMageddon, began around nine months ago when prices for DRAM – the memory used in most consumer devices – shot upwards fast and is now several times what it was this time last year.

Blame has been put on AI firms building out massive data centers and hogging the world’s supply of memory chips, along with making the three manufacturers shift to making HBM-type memory – a type good for AI datacenters and not much else.

This suit claims consumers are being forced to pay “supracompetitive prices” for devices that incorporate DRAM, further boosting the companies’ profits

They also can’t be realistically challenged by anyone else, as even one DRAM fabrication plant can cost tens of billions of dollars and take years to complete.

The crisis had led to huge increases in consumer electronic goods prices, especially in the gaming sector where console and PC gaming components have all seen major rises in price in the span of a few months.

The post Lawsuit Accuses RAM Makers Of Price Fixing appeared first on Dark Horizons.